Two Turkish companies to sell power to Iraq

Two Turkish companies to sell power to Iraq

TRABZON - Hürriyet

Two Turkish firms, Aksa and Kartet, will have equal rights to export around 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually to the Mosul region of Iraq. Hürriyet photo

The Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) approved the applications of two Turkish companies, Aksa and Kartet, to export power to Iraq. The volume of the power trade to Iraq is estimated at around 400 million Turkish Liras, Hasan Köktaş, the head of the EPDK, announced in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

The EPDK had announced it was looking for a Turkish legal person who wanted to export power to Iraq via the existing 154 kilovolt (kV) PS3-Zakho power transmission line earlier, and two local companies, Aksa and Kartet, applied. Köktaş announced that the license to export around 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually had been given to both of the two companies. Thus, Aksa and Kartet will have the equal rights to export power to the Mosul region of Iraq.

Kartet used to supply electricity to Iraq between 2003 and 2008, but security issues and a payment row reduced the sales.

Kartet criticized for ‘selling power to PKK’

Kartet’s contract ended in 2010, but the company extended it for one more year. Kartet reapplied to make another extension in 2012, but the company had not received it, Turkish daily Radikal reported at the beginning of May. When Kartet sold power to Iraq in past years, the company had been criticized by some for “selling electricity to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK],” as cited by Radikal. “We do not sell power to the PKK, but to Iraq. Our counterpart here is the Iraqi central government,” said Hilmi Güler, then the Turkish energy minister.

Köktaş also said Turkey and Georgia aimed to complete their investment plan to create the capacity of 700 megawatts (MW) of power transmission between the two countries. “Turkey’s power market has recently been so developed that it is possible now to export power to Turkey’s neighboring countries. As soon as the interconnection investments are completed, Turkey will reach a much better position in terms of guaranteeing its energy supply and extending its power trade,” Köktaş said.

He noted that the application by a local company to get a license to import power from Iran was now being assessed by the regulatory authority. Now two power transmission lines are used for power trade between Turkey and Iran, one of which has a 150-MW capacity and the other has a 40-MW capacity.

Solar licenses start

The application period for the Turkey’s first-ever solar energy licenses to build up to 600 megawatts of solar projects starts today and ends on June 14. The licenses are expected to be awarded in the first half of 2014.

“We are very excited about the process. We have made all preparations, and let the industry players know about the process,“ said Hasan Köktaş, the head of Turkey’s energy regulatory authority. He added that they expected a number of applications for solar energy projects, worth over 1.2 billion Turkish Liras.